The New Six
by Chocolatedog
Summary: When Nightmare Moon attacks Ponyville, Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Braeburn, Spike, and Shining Armor must try to save the day. Problem: They need *six* ponies. Alternate Universe.
1. Friendship is Magic, pt 1

_Brief note: This is set in an alternate universe where the ponies mostly all have the same personalities but other things are changed. This chapter in particular tells how the first MLP episode played out in this universe. Also, this story isn't super-overwhelmingly Christian, but I talk about Christianity sometimes. If you are the kind of person who will be extremely annoyed by that, don't read the story._

_Oh, and I apologize for giving a shout-out to Fluttershy x Big Macintosh. It seemed like the most convenient way to excuse Fluttershy not living in Ponyville._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Friendship is Magic, part one**

"Um… sorry." Dusk Skies bit his lip.

Doctor Whooves blinked. Again. "You… you are… absolutely positive?"

"Yes… I _am_ sorry. We just… the real point of the security agency is that we have portals, so we can arrive at a situation quickly. Ponies often need action quickly, but usually they don't need diplomats quite… that often."

Doctor Whooves tried to summon up all of his diplomatic skill in this time of need. Surely there was _something_ he could say to change his supervisor's mind. "Ah… ah… mimble…"

"Sorry."

"You've mentioned," the brown earth pony said faintly.

"We just… don't need you anymore. It's not that you were _bad_ at diplomacy, we just… don't need… Sorry." Pause. "You still have your watch shop, at least. It's what your cutie mark is for, anyways."

Doctor Whooves scowled for half a moment, then sighed. "Do I still get to go to the Summer Sun Celebration?"

"Well, you're no longer our employee, so… um…"

Doctor Whooves stood up straighter. "I was given the assignment to speak briefly on the topic of foreign immigration. I spent a good deal of time and a good deal of effort preparing my presentation. Getting somepony else to do it would be a waste. In addition, the Celebration is the day after tomorrow. There's no time to get any other pony. It would be a pleasure to do this service for you."

Dusk Skies half-smiled. "Can't say no to that, Doctor Whooves."

"Thank you."

* * *

"Dad, I'm home."

The gray earth pony looked up from his book. "How'd it go?"

"Fired."

"Technically, it's not really fired. They cut seventy percent of all their diplomats, so you hardly were _fired_."

Doctor Whooves sighed and plopped down into an armchair. "You're right, of course. I was laid off."

His father turned back to his book. "I believe you are violating protocol."

"Ah, right." Protocol dictated that whenever Doctor Whooves returned from work, he must drink some tea and read a good book. Of course, Doctor Whooves had made up that particular bit of protocol, but rules were rules.

"Teapot's in the kitchen."

"Thanks."

After procuring a cup of tea, Doctor Whooves returned to his chair. He picked up the book lying on the end table. He didn't recognize it – oh, it was that one he bought at the used book store the other day. Yes, that would explain why somepony's name was written in the front cover. It was scrawled in ink, so the book would probably bear the name of this pony –a Miss Twilight Sparkle- forever.

_Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest, Princess Celestia, used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger, Princess Luna, brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished…_

A burst of golden light flashed in the air and a scroll appeared in his lap.

"What does it say?" asked his father without looking up.

Doctor Whooves quickly unfurled it, wondering if it was some courtesy "sorry for firing you, have a nice life" thing. It _had_ to be _something_ special, otherwise it would have been sent by the normal postal system.

_Dear Doctor Whooves,_

_Having received confirmation of your attendance, The Summer Sun Celebration Official Coordinating Council has arranged the time of your speech. You will be speaking near the start of the festivities, from ten o'clock to ten-twenty. Please arrive at the Ponyville City Hall later than eight o'clock to prepare. _

_Sincerely,_

_Moondancer, Chairmare of Celebratory Appointments_

* * *

Well, that's what he got from going on third-class portal. The Security Agency management had been less thrilled to let Doctor Whooves use one of their portals to get to Ponyville - they took good unicorn magic, you know! But in the end they let him use one of the interns' spells.

Never put your life in the hooves of an intern. The portal had been quite jarring - and now here he was, in the middle of nowhere.

He squinted. There was clearly a town not too far away, but whether or not it was actually Ponyville was another story.

He should have just purchased a train ticket.

Oh, well. The earth pony adjusted his saddlebag and started walking. The scenery was nice, at least. He seemed to have landed in a farm. After a few minutes, he spotted some ponies lazing about under an apple tree. He ought to talk to them, to make sure that this really was Ponyville and to explain why he, a total stranger, was ambling through their property. Doctor Whooves opened his mouth to call out to them, but a yellow earth pony got to it first.

"Howdy, there!" The pony leapt up and started cantering towards the doctor. "You're not from around here! Welcome to Sweet Aaaaaaapple Acres! And you're just in time for lunch, too!"

Doctor Whooves had never been invited to lunch by a pony who didn't even know his name yet.

The pony stuck a front leg around Doctor Whooves' shoulders and began an awkward (yet surprisingly fast) three-legged gait across the field. He walked past the apple tree and arrived at a huge set of tables filled with ponies. It must have been some kind of public feast, or maybe an outdoors restaurant.

"This is the Apple family reunion," the yellow pony said.

Oh.

"Hello, everypony!" the doctor's overenthusiastic host hollered. "Y'all come and meet my new friend! Now, what's your name, mister?"

"Doctor Whooves. What's _your _n-" His last words were drowned out by cheerful greetings.

"Now, y'see," the yellow pony said, "we're doing the catering for the Summer Sun Celebration, so we decided to make a day of it and bring the whole crowd out. These here ponies are Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Yellow Delicious, just-plain-Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and… hey, this isn't even close to everypony! For one, where're Applejack and Fluttershy? No, wait, that would be 'for two…'"

"_Fluttershy?_" Doctor Whooves said. "That doesn't have a thing to do with apples!"

"Fluttershy? She's not related to us, she's Big Macintosh's wife."

"And they're in the house," Apple Bloom said. "Applejack got a headache."

Doctor Whooves thought that _he_ might be getting one of those.

"Anyways, Doctor Whooves!" the yellow earth pony said. "Take a seat and help yourself!"

"But you… _neglected_ to tell me _your_ name," the doctor spluttered.

"Oh, I'm Braeburn! And let me tell you, it is sooooo nice of you to drop by!" A nearby pony –Apple Tart- heaped some pancakes on the doctor's plate while another poured him some apple juice.

"So, Doctor Whooves," Apple Bloom said, "are you here for the Summer Sun Celebration?"

"Um, yes."

"What d'you do for a living?" Braeburn asked.

"I'm member of the Security Agency." He suddenly remembered that he wasn't. "Ah, actuall-"

"Oh, I heard of them! They're… ponies who do something or another to help someponies, right?"

"Um, yes. You could say that." In fact, you could say that about almost any job. "But actually…" Phooey! If only he had simply not mentioned the Security Agency in the first place! "Well, actually, I'm actually a…" _Oh, why can't I stop repeating "actually" already?_ "I'm a watchmaker. I _used_ to be in the Agency." He couldn't mention his being fired, it's impolite to dump your troubles on strangers, and Doctor Whooves had no desire to do so.

Braeburn nodded. "Watch makin'. That's awful handy when ponies need to know the time, isn't it?"

Doctor Whooves slowly nodded. These ponies were weird.

The brown earth pony cleared his throat, pushing away his half-eaten pancakes. "I'd… better be leaving?"

"What're you going to do?" Braeburn asked.

"Um…" Doctor Whooves seemed to be using that word a lot. "Look around the town, I suppose."

Braeburn's eyes lit up. "Then I could show you around! I _love_ doing that!" He hopped up. "Let's go!"

Doctor Whooves fixed a smile on his face and followed him.

* * *

"So, you see," Braeburn continued, as animated as when he started talking twenty minutes ago, "we decided that everypony would really benefit if we started a new orchard. And I have seven siblings, of course, so I wasn't really needed at _my_ home, so I wanted to be the one to go start this new settlement. But with the Apples, we almost always have families go to start these things. I was all set to start this new town and orchard, and I was going to name it Aaaaaaappleloosa! Doesn't that have a nice ring to it? Aaaaaappleloosa! But then when Big Macintosh was married, he decided to go, at least to start it and then come back to Sweet Apple Acres, 'cause of the family thing, so I came to Ponyville to take his place at this orchard. But he didn't even keep the name Appleloosa!"

After being bombarded with more questions than Doctor Whooves ever cared to answer, he had decided to give himself a break by turning the table on his guide.

It had worked well. Too well, to be sure, but one must always be positive.

"So tell me more about _your_ family," Braeburn said.

"I… already told you."

"Then don't stop until you tell me every fact about them on the planet."

"Er… Oh, look, we made it to the town! What's this building?"

"That's Carrot Top's house! I don't think she's home. Derpy said that Carrot Top was going to the party early to set things up. I wonder if we'll see Derpy. She used to live at Sweet Apple Acres, too. She left 'fore I got there, though."

They proceeded through the town, Braeburn giving cliff notes on everypony as they passed their houses. "And that's Sugarcube Corner! Mr. and Mrs. Cake run it. Pinkie Pie used to work there for a couple of months, but Big Macintosh invited her family to start a rock farm nearby his new apple orchard, so she left to help her family start the new farm. She was nice. But ponies kept on saying how we were just like each other, and that was kind of weird. Well, I'll be!" The yellow earth pony jerked his head to a white unicorn with a blue mane.

And a purple baby dragon on his back.

"A dragon! Isn't that something! Howdy!" Braeburn trotted up to the two. "Welcome to Ponyville! My name's Braeburn, and this is my good buddy, Doctor Whooves!"

"I just met him this morning," Doctor Whooves explained.

"What are y'all called?"

The unicorn took a step back. "I… I'm Shining Armor, and this is Spike."

"Hey, Doctor Whooves here has hooves, and Spike has spikes! Do you own any shining armor?"

"Um, yeah, I guess. I'm here with the royal guard."

Braeburn nodded so much that his hat fell over his eyes. "The royal guard! Isn't that nice!"

"…Nice," Spike repeated. He adjusted the darkly colored thread-thing that hung around his neck. It was attached by a golden clasp. Who wore a _clasp_ to hold a _thread_?

Breaburn was still nodding. He hadn't bothered to push his hat back up. "So how's that going? The royal guarding, I mean."

"Well... nopony's been assassinated."

"That's great!" Braeburn said, nodding again. Doctor Whooves wondered if he got many headaches that way. "Anything else noteworthy?"

"I would hope," Doctor Whooves interjected, "that a lack of assassinations would not qualify as noteworthy."

"Okay, then." The earth pony finally fixed his hat. "Is there anything else _interesting_? And yes, Doctor Whooves, I know that a lack of something unusual isn't really interesting. Could _you_ ask the question?"

And his request wasn't even sarcastic. It was amazing. "Er… how about a simple, 'has anything interesting occurred lately, Shining Armor?'"

"No."

"Ohhhhh!" Braeburn said. "You can't _possibly _say no after we've been through all this trouble!"

"Um, well I guess _some_ important things happened recently. We've um... well... Lemme think."

"Yes?" Braeburn prompted.

"Uh... this isn't actually that interesting, but I guess we've decided to station some soldiers in various towns across Equestria."

"Not anticipating danger, I hope?" Doctor Whooves said.

"Not really. We just decided that some towns could use it."

"Who exactly is 'we', anyway?" Braeburn asked.

Shining shrugged. "Oh, you know, just the ponies in charge. Princess Celestia, the captain of the guard… I'm involved too; they were once going to make me captain. But they ended up not because… Anyways, Ponyville's one of the chosen towns. We don't know who exactly we're sending, though. Don't know why the princess didn't decide yet."

Spike was being remarkably quiet. Who knew, maybe all dragons were like that.

"So I suppose Spike and I will be leaving now… bye."

But at that same moment Braeburn started an overly long spiel about everything that happened that day. He went on for three minutes. "…And so I was just giving the doctor a tour! Can you join us?"

Spike gave Shining Armor a look that clearly said, "Do we have too?"

"Um, sure, Braeburn." Shining Armor took a step back.

"_Great_!" Braeburn bounced into the air. "Yippee!" He waved a hoof to urge his new best-friends-for-life to follow. "So, you looking forward to the party?"

"Party," Doctor Whooves said.

"Of course! Can't have a Summer Sun Celebration without one, can you?" Braeburn bounced into the air. "And this is Colgate's house! Oh, look, she fixed her chimney. It used to be broken in half, you know. Oh, hi, Berry Punch! And there's a _be-a-ut-i-ful_ willow tree!"

Doctor Whooves, Shining Armor, and Spike exchanged a glance.

"So, Shining-Armor-and-Spike, how did Spike get here? You don't see very many dragons living in Equestria."

Shining Armor coughed. "When my little sister, Twilight Sparkle, was young, she was entering Princess Celestia's school of magic, and the entrance exam was to magically hatch a dragon egg."

Braeburn's eyes widened. "_What?_ They just thrust dragon eggs to random foals who hardly even knew magic and had them take a crack at it?"

"Yeah, basically."

"I'll never set hoof into a public school again!"

"Um, go ahead and do that. Anyways, Twilight did the spell and hatched Spike."

"Well, at least it didn't end in disaster. Is your sister here in Ponyville with you?"

"No," Spike and Shining Armor said at the same time.

"Oh." Braeburn's smile shifted to a sheepish one.

"Wait a minute," Doctor Whooves said. "Did you say her name was Twilight Sparkle?"

"Right," Spike said.

"Well, fancy that!" Doctor Whooves reached into his saddle bag and pulled out his book. He showed them the inside of the front cover.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Spike read. "Wow! Where did you get it?"

"I bought it from a used book store in Trottingham a month ago."

"Trottingham?" Shining Armor blinked. "How did it get that far away?"

Doctor Whooves shrugged.

"Thanks for finding it," Spike said. "We wondered if someone stole it; it's really rare."

"I only bought it for a few bits." Doctor Whooves shrugged again.

"I wonder how it got lost then, if whoever took it didn't know what it was worth," Shining said. "I guess things do get misplaced… Around a year ago, after Twilight died-"

"She died? Oh, dear, dear, dear. That's _so_ sad; I'm sorry."

"You don't have to–" Shining Armor started. Then he appeared to realize that it was a new voice."Hey, wait! Who are _you?_"

"Oh, I'm Derpy. Derpy Hooves."

Everyone stared at her. She was a pale blue-gray pegasus with yellow hair and eyes.

But her eyes didn't look in the same direction.

"I… didn't see you there," Doctor Whooves said.

"Sorry. I just saw that Braeburn was talking to you, and I was like 'wow, cool, new ponies to talk to' and so I walked up and was just kinda hanging around. Sorry. No, wait, I already said sorry. Sorry about that." Her eyes crossed. "Rats, I hate it when they do that!" She gestured to her golden eyes.

"Hey there, Derpy," Braeburn said. "These are Doctor Whooves, Shining Armor, and Spike."

"Nice to meet you." She shook each of their hooves in turn. "And I am _super _sorry about Twilight," she added to the two.

"Er," Doctor Whooves said.

"Well, um…" Braeburn turned to a building carved out of an oak tree. "That's the abandoned library."

"Why's it abandoned?" the doctor asked.

"See, the librarian died a year ago," Braeburn started, "and then our mayor retired."

"Then nopony ran for mayor this year," Derpy added. "The new mayor was _supposed_ to see to it that the library was reopened, but, yeah."

"…Nopony ran for mayor," Shining Armor said. "In your entire town."

"Nope! That's what makes Ponyville small, I guess," Derpy said. "Princess Celestia is supposed to set something up until we get a new one. Dunno what she's going to do once she gets here."

"And _there's_ a soap stand!" Braeburn waved his hoof at it as if it was a grand monument. "It looks like Feather Dawn left to go to the party early, and forgot to put the stand into the shed again." He took this duty upon himself and pushed it for the next several minutes until they reached a small shed where it presumably went. He fished a key out of his vest pocket and unlocked it. "She gave me the key since I put it away so much," he explained. "Now would you look at the pretty yellow she painted the door!"

"How nice," Shining said politely.

"Oh, yeah, I helped Dawn with it!" Derpy nodded enthusiastically. "But I broke my paint brush and had to use one of my feathers."

Doctor Whooves took a long look at the paintwork; never before had he seen a door painted with a feather. That must have taken some time.

"And those are the clouds!" Braeburn said. "Aren't they pretty?"

Spike gazed at them. "Yeah, but I thought that the sky was supposed to be _clear_ on the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Oh, yeah, Thunderlane missed a few. The weather team's been having a hard time adjusting; their leader, Rainbow Dash, only quit a few months ago. Now Rainbow's traveling 'round Equestria, doing stunt flying. She's trying to get into the Wonderbolts, ya know. Just last week she got this gig..."

* * *

"Oooh, pretty streamers!" Derpy squeaked, jumping into the air. The group had just arrived at the party

"Here!" Braeburn waved them toward the snack table. "These are the apple cupcakes, apple ice cream, apple slices, apple drinks, and apple pies!"

Doctor Whooves helped himself to a piece of pie. "What would happen if somepony came who didn't like apples?"

Braeburn blinked. "I… never really thought about that. All of you like them, right?"

They all immediately assured him so. It was a good thing that Doctor Whooves enjoyed the fruits in question, because he couldn't have endured saying no to the suddenly profusely worried yellow pony.

"You might want some coffee," Derpy commented. "You _have_ to stay up all night on the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Oh, I _love_ coffee!" Braeburn said.

Doctor Whooves, Spike, and Shining all flinched as the earth pony grabbed a mug.

"Why don't y'all try the darts?" Derpy asked. "I'd play them, but they banned me after the last party. Eyes, you know." She waved a hoof at her derped eyes.

"Um," Doctor Whooves said. "That's… too bad."

"Oh, it's fine. I wouldn't want to chase out any more princesses."

"_Princesses_?" Spike said. "Whoa. What did you _do?_"

"Hit her wing with a dart. But it wasn't Princess Celestia, it was just Princess Cadance. Ever heard of her?"

Shining Armor nodded. "We know her _quite_ well. In fact, she foalsat for Twilight back when they were younger.

"Wow, royal foalsitter," Braeburn said.

"So, here are the darts!" Derpy flung a hooffull at Doctor Whooves.

He threw himself at the ground.

The darts whizzed over him and landed in the apple muffins, knocking them onto the floor.

Derpy's cheeks turned pink. "Oops. My bad. Let me go pick those up." She trotted over to them. "Ooh, muffins!" She stuffed eight into her mouth and _then_ retrieved the darts.

"Um, thanks." Doctor Whooves brushed the muffin crumbs off them and took one in his mouth. Then he threw. "Blast!"

"You missed the target," Spike said.

"You should use your hooves!" Braeburn suggested. "Here, let me try." He flung one.

"Yay, you did it!" Derpy cheered.

"If 'it' is actually making contact with the target, then yeah," Shining Armor said. "He got one point."

"Let me try." Spike took one in his claws, aimed, and threw.

"Wow, that was a good one!" Derpy said. "Just left of the bullseye."

"Good job!" Braeburn said.

Spike smiled. "I guess it's because I don't have hooves."

Time passed. It has a habit of doing that, you know. Doctor Whooves had finished meeting up with the officials to go over the details of his speech. Everypony was enjoying themselves, even Shining Armor and Spike.

"Look," the doctor said. "Do you want Twilight's book back? I could finish reading it right now."

"Really?" Spike looked at Shining Armor.

"That would be great," the white unicorn said.

Doctor Whooves snapped open the book. "Now, where was I?"

"Ooh, what's it about?" Derpy asked.

Doctor Whooves tilted the book towards her. "I don't mind if you want to read over my shoulder."

Derpy blushed. "No, I'd… I can't really read very well. At all. Whenever I try my eyes jump around and I can never find my place. And I always either read the same line twice or skip a line. I'd only finish the first few paragraphs by the time you want to turn the page. No, thanks."

Doctor Whooves shrugged. "I could read it out loud."

"You really don't have to do that. But thank you very, very much for offering."

"I don't mind. Shall I read where I left off, or start over?"

"Don't start over just for me!"

"Alright, then. '_But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since_.'"

"It's a neat story!" Derpy said. "I wonder if the guy who wrote that based it off that Mare in the Moon legend thingy. You know, the story of the evil pony who tried to conquer Equestria but was stopped by the Elements of Harmony and vowed to return on the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration or something like that."

Braeburn laughed. "But this _is_ the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration! Watch out, the Mare in the Moon is coming!"

Derpy giggled.

"Hey, this says that this is a history book," Doctor Whooves said. "I suppose that it isn't based off that story, then, if it's real."

Braeburn abruptly stopped laughing. "You mean that the Mare in the Moon really _is_ returning?"

"Er..."

Spike compulsively grabbed the thread around his neck.

"Don't worry!" Shining Armor said. "I'm sure that everything will be fine."

"Right!" Doctor Whooves shook his mane. "If these facts are common knowledge, then somepony must have realized something earlier and warned Princess Celestia."

"But they're _not_ common knowledge!" Derpy's wings quivered. "I've mentioned the Mare in the Moon story to other ponies before, and even if a lot of them heard of it, almost nopony really knows it. And that book you have is really rare, remember?"

"Um... how rare, exactly?" Braeburn asked.

"We-ell..." Shining Armor furrowed his brow. "It was written before there were printing presses, so only about a dozen were ever made. We had one in a Canterlot library, but the library was burned... that was how Twilight died, actually. The library was experimenting with these new lamps fueled by _gas_, and somehow they literally... blew up. So that copy can't have survived... well, then again, I guess I _don't_ know for sure if the book was ruined. Everything in that area of the library was completely destroyed, so it wasn't like they could find a scrap of the cover or something in the wreckage – for all we know somepony _could_ have removed it. But in all likelihood it's gone. And… I don't have any idea what happened to the other copies, but they've had centuries to get lost."

"So... pretty rare," Braeburn said.

They all fell silent for a full minute.

Spike shook his head. "We can't _seriously_ be invaded by the Mare in the Moon, right? I mean, it's an old pony tale."

Nopony replied.

"_Right_?" Spike whispered.

"Oh, my! I'm going to be late for my speech!" Doctor Whooves hurried to the backstage area.

* * *

"How did I do?" Doctor Whooves trotted up to his new friends.

Spike snored, fast asleep on Shining Armor's back.

"It was a good speech. Nice job," Shining said.

"Why, thank you!" Doctor Whooves glowed.

"Yeah, it was great!" Derpy said. "But... I didn't really understand it."

"That can be fixed! What didn't you understand?"

"Um, well, I'm not all that great at understanding things..."

"Sh!" Braeburn said. "Applejack's about to announce Princess Celestia!"

"Howdy, y'all! It is my gr_eat_ pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

"That's Applejack," Braeburn whispered. "My cousin, y'know? Since we don't have a mayor, we let her do the honors of the announcin'. It reminds me of that one time when-"

"Shh!" somepony hissed.

"In just a few more seconds, our princess'll be raising the sun, and starting the longest day of the year- let's hope that it's a good one! And now, here she is... Princess of Equestria, Mare of the Daytime, Empress of Canterlot, Bringer of the Sun and Moon, Lady of Sunlight, and Queen of the Blue Sky... Princess Celestia!"

Doctor Whooves nervously shifted and leaned forward.

A teal unicorn pulled back the curtain.

The alicorn wasn't there.

The Princess of Equestria, Mare of the Day, Empress of Canterlot, Bringer of the Sun and Moon, Lady of Sunlight, and Queen of the Blue Sky wasn't there.

Everypony gasped.

"W-whoa, there!" Applejack said. "I'm sure that there's some kind of explanation!"

"There is!" a voice boomed. "_I_ am the explanation!"

There was a burst of bright blue light. Applejack fell off the stage and stumbled away. Then, a black alicorn appeared on the platform, her blue mane whipping about behind her.

"Nightmare Moon!" Doctor Whooves gasped.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen thine precious, little sun-loving faces."

Shining Armor leapt to his hooves. A ray of light flew from his horn at the mare, but Nightmare Moon, laughing slightly, raised a wing and deflected the shot. The beam ricocheted off the pillars before singing a tapestry.

"Am I not royal enough for thee? Does thou not know who I am?" The alicorn reared onto her hind legs. "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did thou not recall the legend? Did thou not see the signs?"

"_We _know who you are!" Doctor Whooves said. "Nightmare Moon!"

The mare's ice-blue eyes gleamed. "Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then thou also knows why I'm here."

Derpy flattened her ears against her head. "Probably not to wish us a happy Summer Sun Celebration."

"Sun? _Sun_? I should think not, puny pegasus! Remember this day, little ponies, for it was thy last. From this moment forth, the night will last _forever_!"

**End of part one.**


	2. Friendship is Magic, pt 2

**Friendship is Magic, part two**

"Seize her!" Shining Armor commanded. Several pegasus soldiers leapt into the air and charged. With a crack and another flash of blue light, they were thrust back. The stallions crashed into a wall and both fell to the floor.

Nightmare Moon laughed. "I don't think I have very much to worry about. However, in case thou couldst actually be capable of finding _competent_ assistance…" Her horn glowed. "…I will be using a force field around the town for now."

Shining Armor glanced at his friends. "Hurry, all of you!" He grabbed Spike, tossed him on his back, and went full-gallop to the door. Derpy promptly bumped into a pillar, and then joined Doctor Whooves and Braeburn in following the unicorn.

"What are you going to _do_?" Doctor Whooves panted.

"Force fields are my forte in magic. If we can get to the field before it solidifies, I can break through."

Doctor Whooves shook his head. "Break through and do _what_? Nightmare Moon can only be defeated with the Elements of Harmony."

"Then we need the Elements!" Derpy cried. "Come on; if we're fast enough and have time, we can look them up in the library!"

"But I thought the library was shut down," Spike said.

* * *

_Crash._

"Good job, Braeburn!" Derpy said as the smashed door fell down.

Braeburn rested his hind legs back on the ground. "Thanks."

A cloud of dust rose up as they entered. "This place is filthy!" Doctor Whooves coughed.

"Yeah, well, just hurry." Shining Armor immediately began scanning the shelves. "We only have a few more minutes until the force field solidifies."

Doctor Whooves grabbed a hardback. "_Magical Artifacts of Past Ages._ This could have them."

"I can do one better," Spike said. "Look: _Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide._" He cleared his throat. "_There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty._" At this point bells may have or may have not gone off over the respective ponies as their Elements were announced, spoiling the surprise for those who had not already guessed, but if they _had _gone off, nopony paid them any heed."_The sixth is a complete mystery._"

"I'm not so sure about a _complete_ mystery," Doctor Whooves said. He held up _Magical Artifacts of Past Ages_. "This has an entry for the Elements, albeit an extremely short one. It says that the last element is Magic, but nopony knows what exactly that means, since it doesn't really fit with the others."

"Alright then. So the sixth is a _partial_ mystery," Spike amended. "Anyways:_ It is said the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now the Everfree Forest_." He shut the book. "To the Everfree Forest, then?"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Derpy said. "_That's_ an entire book? Four sentences?"

Spike sighed. "Well, okay, no. But do we have _time_ to read any more?"

"Read it on the way," Braeburn suggested. "Now, come on, everypony!"

They galloped towards the edge of town.

"I found something!" Spike called from Shining Armor's back. "There's a spell used to track the Elements."

"_Really_?" Doctor Whooves smiled. "That's perfect!"

"_The founders of Equestria, the ponies who created the Elements, were two earth ponies, two unicorns, and two pegasi. They crafted the Elements after their own magics, using parts of themselves. Thus, anypony attempting this enchantment needs the magical focal point of the three races: Bits of hooves from two separate earth ponies, feathers from two different pegasi, and two hairs from the forelocks of a pair of unicorns (the hair that grows nearby their magical horns)._ Then it has the instructions for the spell."

"Well, we already have two earth ponies, complete with hooves!" Braeburn said.

Derpy plucked out one of her feathers.

"That wasn't necessary," Doctor Whooves said. "I have two quills in my saddlebag plucked from pegasi."

"Oh. My bad," she mumbled from around the feather. The pegasus added her own feather to the doctor's bag. "And we already have _one_ unicorn…" She darted over to a nearby blue mare and plucked a strand of hair. "Sorry, Colgate !"

They couldn't afford to slow down, so the group (rather rudely) left without waiting for a response.

In another minute they reached the force field - a fine net of blue light stretched over Ponyville. The bright blue tint was growing darker and darker as the net became more and more closely knit.

"Good, it hasn't fully set." Shining Armor poked his horn into a sealing slit. He pumped magic through his horn, and with a grunt of effort, started to push forward. At first it looked like nothing at all was happening.

"Come on, Shining!" Spike said.

Shining Armor's magic brightened, and he gave a final thrust of his horn. The hole he had inserted his horn into expanded, and the part of the net melted away, leaving a gap large enough to pass through. "Hurry!" Shining Armor plunged through, Spike still on his back, and gestured for the others to follow. Almost immediately, the opening started to close back up.

Doctor Whooves nudged the others on and then leapt at the rapidly shrinking hole. He felt the vinyl-like force field close around his middle, suspending him in the air. "Er. Assistance, please?"

Braeburn grabbed his outstretched front hoof and yanked. With a pop, Doctor Whooves was free.

The brown stallion glanced back at the passageway, just in time to see the force field restore itself. Then the entire netting tightened completely, leaving no more gaps. The barrier was solidified.

No going back.

* * *

The ponies looked around nervously, clustered at the edge of the Everfree Forest. "We're going in there? In the middle of the night?" Derpy squeaked.

"Well, I _would_ wait until daylight, but there's just a _bit_ of an issue with that." Braeburn put a foreleg over the pegasus' shoulders.

"Anyways," Shining said. "We're not going in _yet._ I need to read this first." He opened the book. "It's probably really complicated; spells that require components usually are. I hope I can do this… Ah, here we go. _First, create a strong image in your mind of a golden light like the following illustration… _blah, blah, blah… Right-left-left twist; that's an easy one… Ooh, double spark rotations are tricky… It's a good thing I practiced my oscillating swirls; this spell needs five of those… half-stutters are a snap…"

Doctor Whooves, Derpy, and Braeburn exchanged baffled glances. Doctor Whooves had heard about spell books, but he never knew what instructions they actually gave.

"…Refracted flashes are doable, at least… Oh, no." Shining Armor dropped the book.

"What?" Derpy said.

"I can't do the spell."

"Are you sure you couldn't at least try?" Spike asked.

"I _have_ tried."

Derpy blinked. "Huh?"

"The enchantment has a dual inverted pulse. I can't _do_ a dual inverted pulse. I can't even do a _singular_ inverted pulse! I've tried and tried before. I can't do it." He closed his eyes and rested his head on his front hooves, sighing.

"Maybe we could just look in the forest without the spell?" Doctor Whooves offered.

Shining snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, wander around in a wild forest in the middle of the night – and I should mention, _eternal_ night, and hope to stumble on a crumbling castle. Brilliant."

"All we'd need is a little luck," Derpy said. "Or maybe a lot of luck."

"There's no point." Shining Armor softly scuffed the ground with his fore hoof.

"Now," Braeburn said, "what you're suffering from is a lack of joy."

"What I'm _suffering_ from is an inability to do a dual inverted pulse," Shining snapped. "Twilight was a pro at those. In fact, she was a pro at magic, period. She could do this spell."

"I'm sure she could," Braeburn said. "And you can, too."

"I just told you! I can't!"

"Don't despair."

"Don't despair? Our princess has been kidnapped, we're doomed to everlasting night, and I can't do a thing about either one!"

"But you _can't _despair! The five of us, we've been giving an opportunity from God to do somethin' about the Mare in the Moon. We can't give up. If we despair, _then_ we can't do a thing. But if we stick together and have _hope_, then… then at least we can hold on to joy." Braeburn smiled. "Don't lose heart, Shinin'. And…" His grin grew wider. "Unicorns aren't the only ones with magic. The four of us, we can help ya."

"Help me?"

"Y'know that thing they say: Friendship is magic. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Well… yeah, sort of, I guess."

"Me too!" Derpy said. "I'll help!"

"If an experience like this doesn't make two stallions friends, I don't know what does," Doctor Whooves offered.

"And _we _already are friends," Spike said.

"Alright. Dual inverted pulse. Here it goes." Shining Armor laid out Derpy's feather, the quill, and the hair from Colgate. He plucked another one from his own head and set it down. His gaze rested on a sharp stone and he levitated it toward the earth ponies.

Braeburn extended his leg toward the unicorn. "Careful, now."

Shining gingerly etched off a shred of hoof and repeated the process on the doctor. He spread all the components out, following a diagram in the book. "Let's do it, guys."

Doctor Whooves concentrated. He knew that earth pony magic was a rather mystical connection to the earth, plants, and animals, and that it made plants flourish over time. He even learned an extremely basic control over it. But how to make that affect Shining Armor?

Who knew?

Still, he did his best.

"…Double spark rotation… three oscillating swirls… half-stutter… refracted flash… two more swirls… and the dual inverted pulse." The unicorn's brow knit with concentration. Doctor Whooves tried to focus his energy even more. Sweat formed on Shining Armor's forehead.

"You can do it," Spike whispered.

There was a flash of magenta light. The components drew together, as if by a magnet, and fused to each other. Then a golden cloud of sparkles encased them. A trail of the tiny lights cascaded from it and wrapped around Shining's neck. Then the gold orb began tugging away like a pet dog straining at its leash.

"It worked!" Shining Armor said.

"We did it!" Braeburn bounced into the air. "_We did it!_" He laughed triumphantly. All of the others joined in on his laughter.

"We did it! We really did it!"

"Yes!"

"Praise the Lord; we actually did it!"

They cheerfully followed the orb into the forest.

"Hey, it's kinda like a balloon!" Derpy said. "Lucky I'm not carrying it, I'd probably let go."

Everypony laughed again.

Doctor Whooves reared up on his hind legs. "Let's find those Elements!"

* * *

Doctor Whooves pushed past a bramble. Its thorns scraped at his hooves. Derpy and Braeburn's chatter did something to keep the walk upbeat, but still: They were in the Everfree Forest. The place of timberwolves and manticores.

The place that ponies went into and, sometimes, they never came back.

The golden light tugged Shining this way and that way, winding through the dark woods. It lurched to the left, leading the group under a fallen tree propped up by a stone.

"It doesn't always choose the best routes, does it?" Doctor Whooves muttered.

"Aw, this isn't _too_ bad!" Derpy said. "I mean, it's muddy you have to bend down to get under here, but at least it isn't leading us into a volcano!"

"Well, yeah, there's always that," Shining Armor said.

They slipped out from under the log.

"Eek!" Derpy squeaked. "Wazzat?"

A ghastly face full of pointy teeth was before them.

Doctor Whooves jumped back. "Wha- Oh. It's just a carving on a tree."

"Hm?" Derpy peeked out from behind a fern.

"It's an inanimate object," Shining said.

"Oh, okay." Derpy came fully out of her hiding place. "Sorry. With my eyes it's sometimes hard to tell."

"Well, it looks kind of creepy, but it's not dangerous." Doctor Whooves shook his mane. "Carry on, everypony"

They plodded along on their way.

The light got caught up in some branches. "Darn," Shining Armor sighed.

"How can it even get stuck?" Spike asked. "It's _light._"

"Yeah, but the components are physical." Shining tugged at the magical thread of sparkles. It remained snagged, five feet above their heads.

"I can get it!" Derpy ascended and promptly hit a branch.

"Um, let me try." Braeburn picked up a long stick and, after two minutes of awkward poking, prodded the bobble free.

It urgently tugged to the right, as if to make up for lost time.

They went on for another two hours until a shadow obscured the moon. They were plunged into darkness. Only the light illuminated their path.

"Fun," Doctor Whooves said.

"Really?" Derpy said. "Where?"

"I was being sarcastic."

"Oh." Derpy sighed. "Well, a girl can always hope." She paused. "I sure wish the light was brighter." She waited.

"Shoot, it didn't work," Braeburn said. "Let me try: I sure wish the light was brighter."

"My turn!" Derpy cleared her throat. "I sure wish the light-"

"That's not going to work, guys," Doctor Whooves said.

Derpy sighed. "I'm liable to bump into things," she complained. "More than usual, I mean."

Suddenly the sound of Shining Armor's hoof beats stopped. "Ah!" he yelled.

Doctor Whooves strained his eyes to see the white unicorn stumbling down. His front hooves had slid down into a deep gorge – and now the rest of him was following. The brown earth pony leapt forward and grabbed Shining's back legs before the pit could swallow him up.

Shining Armor tilted just a few inches too far in his panic.

"Aaaah!" Spike tumbled off from his back. His flailing arms hit the thread on his neck, and his claw sliced through it.

"Spike!" Shining Armor's horn lit up. He hovered Spike in the air and brought him back as the doctor pulled the unicorn back to safety.

"Oh dear, dear, dear!" Derpy fluttered over. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine." Shining Armor shuddered. "That was close. Spike would have been out of my range a little while longer."

"Well, thank goodness that it didn't take you a little longer, then!" Braeburn said.

"So no harm done?" Derpy asked.

"No…" Spike said. "Wait!" He touched his neck. "I... I broke the hair! It must have fallen off!"

"What?" Doctor Whooves blinked. Then he realized that the thread that had been fastened around Spike's neck was gone.

"Oh, no!" Derpy squeaked. "Was it important?"

"Yes!" Spike said.

Shining Armor sighed. "It was just… Well, it was a hair from Twilight. It's not, like, necessary or anything. Just a sentimental thing. To remember her by."

Derpy's eyes widened and she wilted. "Aw. That's sad." She trotted over to the gorge and peered over. "Can I have some kind of light?"

Shining blinked. "You're not serious."

Derpy blinked right back. "Um, well, it'd be kinda hard to find it without light."

"I mean, you're not really going to go into a huge black abyss to find a single hair, are you?"

"I have to try! Anyways, it has a golden fastener-thingy, remember? I _think_ the latch is big enough that it wouldn't be too hard to see light reflecting off it. But it'll really be easier if I had a light. Could we make a torch or something?"

In the end, Spike lit a branch on fire - one that was small enough for Derpy to blow out in case it burned too low.

Derpy wrapped a fore hoof round the torch and fluttered into the gorge. "Be careful!" Braeburn called.

"Jeez, guys, I have wings! It's not like I'm going to fall or anything."

Doctor Whooves peered over the edge. Derpy was slowly descending, the flame's glow illuminating her face. But the farther she went into the blackness, the fainter it became.

"Derpy, really!" Shining Armor said. "I can't let you put yourself in danger!"

"Oh, Shiny, I'm not going to hurt myself! Stop worrying – oops."

"_What?_" everypony yelled.

"It's nothing, it's nothing! I just nearly dropped the torch. _Nearly_. As in, absolutely no harm was actually done. Just _nearly_ done. But not _too_ near, mind you. I was about, say, six away from dropping it."

"Six whats away?" Doctor Whooves asked.

"Six units of measure."

Doctor Whooves and Shining exchanged a glance.

"Derpy, it's okay with me if you give up," Spike asked.

"But it's not okay with me."

The torch-light grew smaller and smaller.

Then it was gone.

Everypony waited.

Doctor Whooves took a pocket watch out of his saddlebag and watched the second hand move round. Two minutes. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Ten minutes and two seconds. Ten minutes and eight seconds. Okay, so he was getting anxious.

"That stupid light led me right over the edge," Shining Armor muttered. "Right over. Why couldn't it have…" He trailed off.

Ten minutes and forty-one seconds.

And then, a little voice, from way off in the distance. "Ooh, I saw something flash! I think... Oh, I found it! Oh, I found it found it found it!"

Doctor Whooves breathed a sigh of relief.

"Heeeeey!" Derpy called. "I found something else, too!"

"Well, come on back up!" Braeburn shouted.

"Okie-dokie!"

Two minutes (and three seconds) later she appeared out of the dark. Her torch had burned out, but she proudly bore her prize.

Spikes eyes widened with glee. "Thank you, Derpy!"

Shining took the hair and carefully knotted the broken ends. Doctor Whooves envied the unicorn's levitation powers – imagine being able to tie something so slender without your hooves getting in your way!

Shining fastened it back around Spike's neck. "Thanks," Shining said. "That was really amazing of you, to do that for one hair."

"No prob. But wait until you see what I found!" She picked up another stick. "Fire, please."

"Alright!" Spike obliged.

Derpy held the branch in her mouth and walked to the edge of the cliff. "See that?" she mumbled. A ledge path wound down. "It leads all the way to the floor! And there's another path back up the other side!"

"Great!" Shining said.

Braeburn excitedly reared up unto his hind legs and scurried down the path. Doctor Whooves winced. "Take it easy; you wouldn't want to slip!"

Shining Armor lit up his horn brightly and slipped ahead of Braeburn to light up their route.

"Ooh!" Derpy squealed. "We're on our way!"

* * *

Doctor Whooves started to yawn as they trudged past trees, trees, and more trees. Uhg. Summer Sun Celebration or not, nopony should be allowed to stay up all night. Nodragon either, he noted. Spike had fallen fast asleep on Shining's back.

Noticing their exhaustion, Braeburn commented, "You should have had eleven cups of coffee during the party, like me."

That shook the brown earth pony awake. "_Eleven_?" Well, that certainly explained Braeburn's behavior during that piñata fest near the end of the party.

"That mist's been following us for the last eight minutes," Derpy informed them.

"What mist?" Shining Armor asked.

"Look!" There was, indeed, a blue, misty cloud above.

"That looks... like some kind of magic," Shining said slowly.

"Bad magic?" Derpy asked.

Shining tossed his mane and shrugged. "How could I know? But we're in the middle of the Everfree Forest, and an evil mare just captured the princess. This isn't really a time or place for friendly spells."

Doctor Whooves looked over his shoulder and watched the cloud suspiciously. "Can we do anything about it?"

Shining turned his horn towards the mist and fired a magical projectile. The shot flew right through the blue mass. "Guess not." He shrugged.

The gold light turned and started twisting its way through a tight-packed field of brambles.

Then, the ground abruptly stopped, leaving a miniature cliff. The ground was about six feet below.

Braeburn shrugged and carefully leapt off. He grunted slightly from the shock as he landed, but was otherwise unfazed. "Come on, it's safe!"

Doctor Whooves jumped as Derpy fluttered down. Shining twisted his head around to nudge Spike awake.

"Hm? Oh!" Spike shook himself. "Are we there?"

"No. We have to leap down this gully, that's all. And I can't exactly do that when you're riding me."

Spike, yawning, rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes and hopped off of the unicorn's back. Shining Armor cautiosly levitated the dragon to the ground below. Then he galloped to the edge and hurdled himself off it.

He jumped too powerfully.

The tip of Shining Armor's horn brushed a low, gnarly branch. As he descended, the components of the magic light snagged in the tangled twigs. When the unicorn hit the ground, the trail of little lights strained, until each light was several inches apart from the next.

Derpy sighed slightly and unfurled her wings. "I got it!"

But the blue mist darted forward like a fighter seeing his opponent lower his guard. There was a brief flash of blue, and the mist transformed into a thunder cloud. Derpy jumped back, startled.

A fork of lightning zigzagged down from the cloud and struck the branch.

It burst into flame, and the fire consumed the end of the branch. The burning tree limb fell to the earth before the fire could spread to the rest of the tree.

Braeburn jumped forward and slammed his hat on the flame, snuffing it out.

The forest was flung into darkness.

Everypony remained quiet as the golden sparkles slowly floated to the ground and vanished.

They were all that was left of their magic light.

After a minute, Shining Armor lit up his horn, rendering the ponies' shocked and solemn faces visible.

"You- you bad cloud!" Derpy called after the retreating mist.

Shining scuffled the ground with his hoof. "I should have just dropped down, not leapt like that."

Braeburn shrugged. "Can't we just start over? We still have two earth ponies, and Doctor Whooves, you still have a pegasus feather quill, right?"

"Right."

"And we have Derpy. And Shining Armor still has hair, too!"

"But we only had _one_ of Colgate's hairs!" Shining Armor said. "We need two _different_ unicorn hairs to do the spell!"

Everypony fell silent.

"You really, _really_ bad cloud!"

"I suppose we don't really have a choice. We'll have to do without the light," Doctor Whooves said. "Ponyville's closed off, and I doubt we could travel all the way to another town before Nightmare Moon finds us."

"We _need_ the light!" Shining Armor stomped his hoof. "The castle could be miles from here!"

"But what can we do about it?" Braeburn said.

Nopony suggested anything.

But a dragon did.

Spike took Twilight's hair off. "Here. Use this."

"But the components are all fused into one shape," Shining Armor said. "You'd lose it."

Spike bit his lip. "Use it."

"You sure?"

"I don't need that to remember her."

Shining Armor took a deep breath. "Alright then. Ready, everypony?"

Doctor Whooves took the book from his saddlebag and, turning it to the proper page, set it before the unicorn.

They laid out all of the components. Shining Armor began arranging them properly.

Something occurred to Doctor Whooves. Maybe they could cut off a section of Twilight's hair for the spell, and Spike could keep the rest. But as the earth pony opened his mouth to suggest this, he realized the hair needed to be long enough to match with the proper component arrangement – and unfortunately, they couldn't afford the hair to be even one measly centimeter shorter. Spike would have to give up the entire thing.

Shining Armor put the final item in its place. "Here we go." His horn glowed, and his gaze darted across the page.

He groaned with effort, gritting his teeth. And then, with a flash, it was over. The golden light once again led the way.

"I'm sorry for losing the first one," Shining whispered.

"It's okay," Spike said.

The light tugged Shining onward, and the group trudged on.

* * *

"It's it, it's it, it's itty itty it!" Derpy sang.

"...'Idiot'?" Doctor Whooves said, before realizing what the pegasus was actually saying.

"Yahoo!" Braeburn reared onto his back legs and gave a cheerful whinny.

"Whoa there, guys," Shining said. "It's only the castle. We haven't expelled Nightmare Moon from the kingdom yet."

"Not _another_ pit!" Doctor Whooves said. A moat blocked the way to the palace.

"It's okay, I can raise the bridge!" Derpy fluttered into the abbess and pulled up the rope attached to their side. She tugged the rope to a peg on the other side. "Um. Not so good with knots."

"I am," Spike volunteered. "I think it comes from not having hooves."

"Okie dokie!" Derpy came back and carried the purple dragon across. While she was doing this, the bridge slid back into the pit. Derpy, not at all put out, retrieved that, too.

As soon as the bridge was secured, they trotted across.

Then, the palace. Doctor Whooves took a deep breath as he approached the door. He pushed it cautiously, making it creak open.

"Wow..." Derpy breathed.

A huge pedestal stood in the middle of the entrance hall. Six ledges jutted out of it, each with a stone on it.

Their yellow guiding light suddenly broke free from the strand binding it to Shining Armor. It flew towards the pedestal and dissolved into a flurry of sparkles.

"The Elements of Harmony!" Doctor Whooves whispered.

"Yaaaaay!" Derpy squealed. "All six of them!" She recounted them three or four times to make sure.

"Now what?" Shining Armor said.

Spike shrugged. "We get them down, I guess."

Shining Armor levitated the Elements to the floor, one by one, so they all formed a circle.

The Elements began to glow.

And then, a significant amount of nothing happened.

"They need somepony to use them," Doctor Whooves realized.

"Would that be us?" Braeburn said.

"That would be nopony!" There was a blue flash. Nightmare Moon stood before them. "I have been watching thee. Admirable, thine friendship. But it is for nothing." She reared up. "Ab-so-lute-ly…" With every syllable, she stomped down… and shattered an Element. "…no-thing!"

Doctor Whooves took a step back, his eyes wide.

The Elements of Harmony.

Gone.

Nightmare Moon laughed. "Thou thought that thy little stones could defeat _me_! And I didn't even need magic. All it took was a flick of my hoof! The Elements are _gone_, my little ponies!"

Doctor Whooves cast his gaze over his friends. Shining Armor was angry; Derpy, teary; Braeburn, shocked; and Spike... _Poor Spike. He was so generous so we could find the Elements-_ Wait. _Generous?_

"You're wrong, Nightmare Moon," Doctor Whooves said. "The elements aren't gone."

She snorted. "Fine, if thou want us to get technical in our speaking, the Elements are pummeled into dust. Is that better?"

Doctor Whooves shook his head, smiling. "They aren't destroyed. Even if you crushed the stones, the magic is alive." He turned to his friends. "By using his magic to create a guiding light, Shining Armor discovered a new magic, the magic of friendship. Now, he represents the spirit of _Magic._" Several stone shards floated into the air and rotated around him. Nightmare Moon's eyes widened

"Braeburn used his gift of joy to encourage Shining, representing the spirit of _Laughter_." More shards encircled the yellow earth pony.

"Derpy showed compassion to Spike by retrieving a keepsake of his, representing the spirit of _Kindness_.

"And then Spike gave up that same keepsake so that Equestria could see the day again, representing the spirit of _Generosity_."

The shock in Nightmare Moon's eyes flashed, but then faded away. A smirk spread across her muzzle. "_And?_" she said.

Derpy blinked. She turned to her friends. "One, two, three, four... there's only five!"

"Um, you wouldn't happen to represent two Elements, would you, Doctor Whooves?" Braeburn said.

"I..." Doctor Whooves gulped. He had been so sure about his allies having the spirits of the Elements. "I... I don't see how I represent even _one_ Element."

Nightmare Moon laughed. "Nice try, little earth pony. Thou hast failed _masterfully_."

How could Doctor Whooves have been so stupid? There only were four ponies there, plus Spike - five in all.

"You are finished." Nightmare Moon raised her horn into the air, charging a magical spell.

_Please. I need to find the Elements. Help me, Lord!_

"Nightmare Moon!" Doctor Whooves called. "Or should I even call you that? Rather: Princess Luna!"

Nightmare Moon snorted, but didn't stop powering up her horn. "We are the same pony."

"True, Princess. It was your decision to allow this black magic into you. But you know what they say: The devil always takes you farther than you want to go. Same goes for this black magic."

"Basically, thou are unable to find enough ponies to represent the Elements, so thou are instead trying to talk me out of attacking thee."

"Not at all. We _do_ have all the Elements. Princess Luna, you don't really want to overthrow your sister. You can still leave the black magic. You can still turn back. Come to us, and we will protect you!"

"Protect _me_?"

Doctor Whooves nodded. "The dark magic shall not reclaim you. We need _you_, Princess Luna. I do not believe that this evil pony is really you. Fight against this black magic. Come! Accept this Element. _You_ are the Element of _Loyalty_!" The shards rose towards her. "And," Doctor Whooves concluded, "by saying this truth, unbelievable as it is, I now represent the Element of _Honesty_."

The brown pony extended a hoof to Nightmare Moon. "The only pony left is you."

For the second time, Nightmare Moon's eyes widened with fear. But now it was a different kind of fear.

"Come to us, Luna!" Doctor Whooves beckoned. "Forgiveness and friendship are waiting for you."

The mare bowed her head, eyes closed. She whispered something inaudible. And then, she looked up. Her eyes were filled with tears – yet her gaze had never been clearer.

It was like seeing double. A shadow of one mare slowly fought its way out of the shadow of another. Doctor Whooves grabbed Luna's forehoof, pulling her forward.

Then Luna was free. Her body - now dark blue instead of black - collapsed in front of the dark shadow. Her evil form was faceless now – a shape like a pony, but without spirit. Doctor Whooves pulled Luna to her hooves. Their eyes met, and the princess gave a nod of thanks. Then she reached to the shards of her element.

At that movement, all the spinning shards thrust towards their bearers. With a flash, all of the ponies floated into the air.

The shadow lunged towards them. Doctor Whooves put a foreleg across Luna, blocking her from it.

The shadow fell back, but quickly thrust itself forward again.

Then the bearers rose sharply into the air, held up by the Elements' power. The doctor turned his face to the dark form.

And they all did their magic.

A rainbow of light shot into the air and cascaded downwards, towards the shadow. The violet stripe abruptly diverted from the rest of the rainbow and zigzagged around the room.

"Oops," Derpy squeaked. "My bad!" The band of color swooped back to its place.

The rainbow arched towards the misty silhouette of Nightmare Moon. The figure scrambled back, but it was too slow. The multicolored light struck.

And with an eerie shadow-cry, the monster shattered.

"Thou hast no more control over me," Luna whispered. "And... thou never hast."

The ponies gently floated back to the ground.

Doctor Whooves' eyes widened. They... actually did it.

Luna bowed her head. Then she turned to the others, tears rolling down her cheeks."Thanks - many, _many_ thanks - to thee. Doctor Whooves, Shining Armor, Derpy, Braeburn, and Spike, correct?"

"Right," Doctor Whooves said.

"Thank you." Luna's lip trembled. Then she lunged forward and threw her forelegs around Doctor Whooves.

"Eeurk," the earth pony grunted with surprise.

"_Thank you_!" She withdrew with a small sob. "Thank you all!"

"Thank _you_, too!" Braeburn said. "You saved Equestria!"

Derpy nodded and hugged the princess. "Yeah!" She stepped back, looking at the alicorn. "_And _you have a pretty necklace, too!" Derpy danced around the princess.

Luna looked down at her chest. A silver moon and star pendent hung around her neck by a blue ribbon. "Oh!" She admired it for a moment. "Your necklace is lovely too, Derpy."

"Hey, look! It has a bubble on it!"

Then Doctor Whooves realized he was wearing a helmet. He took it off and looked at its shiny bronze surface. "There's an hourglass mark on the front!"

Braeburn, apparently, noticed that his hat had fallen off in favor of a new piece of headgear. "An apple icon!"

"And Shining Armor's has a shield!" Derpy gasped. "They're our brand new personalized Elements of Harmony, all with our cutie marks!"

"Then what does _Spike's_ have on it?" Shining Armor said.

"Here." A smile spread over Spike's face as he passed his purple helmet over.

"Wow," Shining said.

Doctor Whooves leaned over and studied the star marking. "What is it?"

"That..." Spike blinked. "That was Twilight's cutie mark."

"Ohhhh, this is so perfect!" Derpy squealed. "You all have helmets, and I have a pretty necklace, and Luna has a pretty necklace, _and_ she has a pretty tiara!"

"Tiara?" Princess Luna raised a hoof to her head. It bumped into her crown. She levitated it down to look at it. It was silver with beautiful blue gems on in. "I… didn't have that before."

"It fits you well, sister."

Everypony looked up and gasped. A grand white alicorn with a blue, lavender, teal, and pink mane flowing behind her stood before them.

"Princess Celestia!" Doctor Whooves whispered. He and all the others hastily bowed down.

"Arise," the princess said.

Princess Luna stood up and took a few slow steps toward the alicorn. Then Princess Celestia held out her hooves in welcome, and Luna rushed to her. "I'm sorry, Tia!" she wailed, embracing her sister. "I... I missed thee!"

"And I missed you, too. The kingdom needs you. You saved me, Luna. You and your friends saved me from Nightmare Moon."

"How does the kingdom need me? Thou did fine without me for one thousand years!"

"Well," Princess Celestia said, "for one thing, there's a little town called Ponyville that really needs a stand-in mayor."

Luna blinked. "What?"

"Come back to Canterlot with me, Luna. I'll teach you about all you've missed. But the Elements of Harmony cannot be separated from each other. If it is well with you, stay with your friends in Ponyville. Ponyville needs you."

"And _we_ need you!" Derpy cried. "You fought Nightmare Moon with us."

"Stay with my... friends," Luna said. "My friends."

"Shining Armor?" Princess Celestia said. "I think I've made my decision about which pony to choose to lead the Ponyville guard. Do you accept?"

"Of course!"

"And Doctor Whooves, Ponyville doesn't have a watchmaker yet."

"Gladly, Princess."

"Then I think it's all settled. But Luna..."

"Yes?"

"I expect reports from you. About the magic... of friendship."

**~The End**

* * *

_Thank you for reading, everypony! I__ hope you liked it! If you did, I'd be very happy if you took a few minutes to write a review. _:)

_And a final note: This is going to be a series of "episodes". Most future installments will also be based off real episodes, but some I'll just make up entirely. I won't be doing all of the official episodes - many of them just don't work for my cast. Also, in general I'll do them in the order they aired, but the next chapter is actually going to be _Luna Eclipsed_, because that one won't make sense anywhere else. Finally, all new stories in _The New Six_ will be posted as chapters (as opposed to being separate stories each with their own listing), so hit "Subscribe" to be notified when __I finish the next tale -_ Luna Eclipsed!

_When Princess Luna arrives in Ponyville, the townsponies have a hard time accepting that she's put her days as Nightmare Moon behind her. Luna, with the help of her friends, must find a way to regain their trust._


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